Some of last year's FORTUNE 40 have risen so much they're off the list -- and some have dropped precipitously.

June 15, 2006: 12:56 PM EDT

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) -
We're pleased to report that the FORTUNE 40 turned in a stellar year. From June 24, 2005, to June 2, 2006, our diversified group of small, mid-sized, and large domestic and international equities returned 17 percent. The S&P 500 gained 10 percent over the same period.

In fact, last year's portfolio was so successful that we used largely the same methodology to choose this year's stocks. Some of our winners, like top performer Lincoln Electric (Charts) - up 95 percent - have risen so much that they no longer meet the requirements of our screens. (Lincoln is off in part because it has grown too large to qualify for our small-cap category.)